Of Wine, Women and Song
by EyerishEyes
Summary: Weekly Unbound Challenge response. Rating is for eventual outcome. Grissom, Sara and a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Grissom finally comes to terms with his feeling and he tells Sara. RST (eventually). GS,of course.


**Of Wine, Women and Song**

Previously known as: Untitled Weekly Unbound Challenge Response

**A/N: **The characters are owned by Anthony Zucker, Jerry Bruckheimer and a slew of other people. I intend no disrespect or copyright infringement. I do intend to make Grissom and Sara to do what I want, which is resolve the tension between them. And all of you know exactly how I mean! Thanks to Ash and Anne, the best beta readers in the world. Couldn't do it without you two.

Her socks were mismatched again.

Catherine was the first one that noticed and it scared her.

Sara had been through a lot lately. She had found out that her friend was a killer and that she was the other woman. She had been near the center of the lab explosion and she had been turned down by Grissom. She had seen her doppelganger in Debbie Marlin. On top of that, she had heard Grissom's confession to Dr. Lurie.

Catherine had watched while Grissom had pushed Sara further and further away. It hurt her to see her friends treat each other that way, but she thought that Grissom would realize what he was doing and put both of them out of their misery. But so far, nothing.

And so Sara slipped further into that hole of self-despair and pity.

It was time for someone to do something about the situation. And that someone was Catherine.

She walked down the corridors of the station looking for the man who was the underlying cause of this situation. She didn't have far to go, finding him in his office. She knocked on the doorframe, getting his attention. "Hey."

Grissom looked up from the files that he was reviewing.

"You got a minute?"

"Well, if it will get me out of doing this paperwork, yes. What's going on?"

"Have you seen Sara tonight? She wasn't in the conference room when you handed out assignments. She's never late so I wondered if you had seen her." She had seen Sara in the locker room and noticed the socks, but she wondered if Grissom had.

"Actually, I saw her this evening before everyone else made it in. She was in here finishing some paperwork on the Berkeley case. Why?"

"Didn't you notice anything odd about her?"

"You mean aside from her socks not matching again, no."

"So you did notice it. Why don't you say something about it? I mean, this isn't the first time that this has happened. And she seems to be getting worse and worse."

"What do you mean, 'worse and worse'?"

"What do I mean? Haven't you been paying any attention to her? Oh, I forgot, can't worry about Sara, can you. That might mean you have feelings for her," Catherine bit off. "You really piss me off sometimes, Grissom. You two have been dancing this stupid ballet around each other for over a year. And I hate to be the one to tell you that no one is enjoying the performance. I've had it with you two."

"Are you finished with your little tirade?"

"No," Catherine snapped. She was pacing Grissom's office, letting her agitation fuel her indignation. "I can understand your apprehension because of the supervisory thing, but come on, Gil. I've read that policy and it doesn't say anything about the two of you having a relationship. The only person that has a problem with it is you."

"I don't have a problem with it, whatever it is. I have a problem with the idea that Sara could or would want a relationship with me. She is younger than me and sooner or later, she's going to realize that I'm an old man and trot off to find someone her own age. I don't think that I could handle that rejection."

"What makes you think that Sara would reject you? She's been interested in you for how many years? Don't give me some lame excuse for your inadequacies. She's falling deeper and deeper into a hole that you may not be able pull her out of. I hope that for both of your sakes, you get you head out of your ass before one or both of you self-destruct," Catherine stated.

Her pacing was getting on Grissom's nerves. "Catherine, if you don't stop your pacing, you _will_ find yourself on every major trick roll and dead body found in a confined space that we have for the next two years. Keep up your tirade and it will be four. Do I make myself clear?" Grissom pulled his glasses off of his face, pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

Catherine looked hurt. She only wanted to help this man who was quite possibly her best friend. "Crystal, Gil. I'm sorry that I even said something. I'm just worried about Sara, okay."

"Okay, I'll have a talk with Sara. She's worried me a little lately, as well. I just thought that she would snap out of it."

Catherine exhaled a sigh of frustration. "Last year she would have but this year, after everything that has happened, she won't. Please, talk to her tonight."

"Okay. I'll take her out for breakfast, if that's okay with you."

"Okay."

GnS

Sara was in the layout room when he found her. She was examining the clutter that they had found in a victim's car earlier in the week. She had finished with the Berkeley case hours ago and had offered to help out Warrick and Nick on their current case. Ted Cooper had died in his car, with no possible explanation. And so, Nick and Warrick were working on a possible lead and had enlisted Sara's help on the contents of Cooper's car. So far, she hadn't found anything relevant.

"Sara?" Grissom said softly.

The sudden invasion of her solitude suprised her and made her jump slightly. "Grissom, you scared me."

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you. I was just wondering how things were going on the Cooper case?" he said as he walked into the room to stand. He stood closely next to her, close enough to her so that he was looking over her shoulder, her hair brushing his cheek. He realized that he was holding his breath.

Sara turned her head slightly, her lips almost brushing his cheek instead of her hair. "You shouldn't be so sneaky. Make some noise or something when you're walking up on someone. And to answer your question, haven't found anything yet. Warrick and Nick are following up a possible lead and I'm here wading through the entire contents of the car. Mr. Cooper seemed to live his entire life in his car, so there's a lot."

"Isn't tonight your night off?" Grissom questioned. He suddenly realized this fact.

"Yeah, but Nicky and War needed the help and Greg is on vacation," Sara stated, matter of factly.

Grissom grabbed her hands, turned her around and said, "Alright, that's it. People around here are taking advantage of you. Catherine or I could have handled this. You have more than two months worth of vacation leave built up. You're taking it now." Grissom starting leading her out of the room.

"Grissom, let me go." Sara yelled. She shook her arms out of Grissom's grasp. "I am not taking time off. What would I do with my time? And who the hell made you my handmaiden? I can take care of myself."

"Like you did the other night?" Grissom said softly, making reference to her close encounter with the local police department.

"That was low, Grissom," Sara whispered. "Fine, I'll take a couple of days off. I suppose I could find something to do."

"Good, and to help you out, why don't you open this," Grissom handed her the small package that he had been hiding. The sedately wrapped box was tied with a tiny ribbon.

"What is it?"

"Open it and find out."

"What did I do to deserve a present from you," Sara said with a touch of sarcasm.

"You didn't have to do anything. I can give you a gift if I want to."

"It's just that you haven't been like this in awhile."

"Well, I'm going to change. Do you want me to change, Sara?"

"I guess so," Sara responded as she opened the box. Once the lid was removed, it revealed a single key. Sara picked up the small piece of metal, looked at Grissom quizzically and said, "I don't get it."

"It's the key to my cabin up in the mountains. I want you to go up there and relax. Nothing around for miles and nobody will be there to bother you. You can relax and match your socks up." Grissom looked towards her feet.

"Oh, I can't believe I did that again. Okay, if it will make you happy, I'll go.

GnS

Sara had been gone for a week and everyone was feeling the ramifications. Nick and Warrick were still making headway in the Cooper case. Greg was moping around like someone had killed his dog and Catherine was doing the 'top dog' routine. Grissom had taken to being an ogre, hiding away in his cave-like-office and biting the head off of anyone who dared to enter his domain. As much as he hated doing paperwork, at least it was a solitary activity. He didn't have to explain his momentary lapses of concentration.

He decided to he would go up and check up on Sara. At least that was the excuse he gave everyone.

The hour and half drive did little to settle his fears. He needed to see her, to make sure she was okay.

As he finally arrived at the cabin, he noticed her car parked along side the building.

He parked his Tahoe and climbed out of the driver's door. He reached in to the truck and pulled out a box of groceries. He had stopped at a supermarket before leaving Vegas, stocking up on vegetarian fare, knowing that local stores stocked very little in the way of 'alternative' fare.

Grissom opened the front door, noticing that Sara had failed to lock it. He called out to her, announcing his presence. No answer came from the interior.

He wondered where she was at.

He found her on the back porch blowing soap bubbles.


End file.
